Red File – Your Grab & Go Case for Emergency Situations

Devastating disasters like a flood are a vivid reminder of life’s uncertainty.

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you suddenly became a victim of a natural disaster, terrorist attack, fire, or other unexpected event? Would you know what to grab if you only had minutes to escape your home?

The plans you've made in advance and what you choose to take with you will influence how quickly you rebound from disaster (whether you have the information to file claims, contact information for accounts, etc.).

National agencies that work with disasters recommend that important items be gathered and kept in a file case in a place where all family members can quickly “grab it and go.” Make sure that your file case is small enough to easily fit in a backpack or other small travel bag. The following information should be in your file case:

Other items

Electronic Red File

If you have access to a secure server and internet connection, make an electronic Red File.

Scan your official documents to make electronic copies.

Send these documents to yourself in an email so that you can access them from any internet-connected computer, or

save copies of these documents on one or more CDs or USB drives and then store them somewhere outside your home that is secure (a locked cabinet at your work, with a trusted friend or family member, etc.).

See the Related Video or Audio:

Do You have a "Grab and Go" File?

Rosemary K. Heins, Extension Educator — Family Resource Management

Reviewed June 2013 by the author.

Emergencies and possibly disasters happen — are you ready? One way to be ready is to have a "Grab and Go file." A Grab and Go File is a collection of all the important papers and information that you can just pick up and leave with, if, for instance you had to evacuate your home. With the flood season coming up, this is one way to be ready. It would also very helpful in other family emergencies since the important papers are together.

What should one put into the Grab and Go? Here are some suggestions:

Keep a master list of financial information — bank account location or locations, credit cards, insurance coverage, tax preparation records. Forms for a master list are available from many sources. One is the University of Minnesota Extension website www.extension.umn.edu. Just insert the words "household inventory" into the search area and you’ll be directed to a couple of sites with these forms.

Include legal documents or copies of them — like wills, birth, marriage, divorce certificates, passports, military discharge papers

Lists of prescriptions for household members

If you have a safe deposit box key this is a good place for the key

Keep computer file information and information scanned onto a CD

Have some emergency cash — remember if an area is flooded it could be very difficult to get money out of an ATM machine!

This is a beginning point. You may discover other papers or information that would be difficult to replace. Include this in your grab and go file. It will give you a small bit of "peace of mind" to know that you are as ready as you can be before disaster happens.